ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, November 4, 1996 TAG: 9611040107
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
Six things Virginia voters should know or do before they go to the polls Tuesday:
1. Be prepared to wait.
It's a presidential election year, which traditionally draws the biggest turnout. And this year, some special circumstances may make the lines even longer.
This will be Virginia's first election since passage of the "motor voter" law, which allows people to register to vote at the Division of Motor Vehicles and other government agencies. The law requires election officials to adopt some new check-in procedures for these voters, so registrars are warning of delays, even though most have called in additional poll workers to help with the crush.
"They should not expect to run in and out the way they always have," says Diane St.John, Roanoke County registrar.
The presence of five proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot - none of which has generated much attention, and which are expected to confuse many voters - is also likely to cause delays. St.John says she's finding that voters casting absentee ballots have been taking an average of five minutes, and sometimes as long as 10 minutes, to sort through things.
Her advice: Avoid the morning and evening rush hours if you can. The best time to vote is late morning or early afternoon. That's when lines will be shortest.
2. If you registered to vote through motor voter, call your local registrar to make sure you're actually on the books.
Election officials say they can't guarantee that your motor voter application got to them. And if it didn't, you can't vote. Sorry.
Some registrars are worried about how many motor voter forms got lost in the mail. They've had some calls already from prospective voters who want to verify their status and are distraught to find out they're still not registered.
The best thing to do, says Bruce Meadows, head of the State Board of Elections, is to call the registrar "to make sure your form got where it's supposed to land."
3. Take some ID.
All who registered through the motor voter law will be required to show identification - the final step in officially getting on the rolls - when they vote.
Election officials will prefer to see the voter ID card mailed out to these registrants. They'll settle for a driver's license or some other identification with a photograph and signature, Meadows says.
4. Know where you live.
This sounds simple enough, but it may trip up some voters. For one thing, a small part of Roanoke County is in the 9th Congressional District, not the 6th District like the rest of the county. And a wedge of Bedford County is in the 6th District, not the 5th.
"There still seems some confusion that we have five precincts in the 9th," says St.John, the Roanoke County registrar.
So if you live in the Bent Mountain, Poages Mill, Glenvar, Green Hill or Mason Valley precincts, you're voting for either Rick Boucher, Patrick Muldoon or Tom Roberts for Congress.
And if you live in Moneta, Chamblissburg, Hardy, Stewartsville or portions of the Shady Grove precinct, your choices are Bob Goodlatte, Jeff Grey and Jay Rutledge.
More widespread, however, may be confusion prompted, once more, by the motor voter law. As a safeguard against fraud, the law requires states to double-check their lists of registered voters against lists of post office addresses. If the lists don't jibe, voters with "questioned" addresses will have to sign a special form verifying their addresses. The state mailed the forms to those voters during the summer, but many haven't returned them.
That's another procedure that is expected to back things up on Election Day.
5. Bone up on the constitutional amendments.
Election officials are fretting that many voters still don't know about the proposed amendments. As mandated by law, copies of the amendments and a legalistic explanation of their intent will be posted at all precincts for voters to read while they're waiting in line.
"Hopefully, they'll do so to cut down on the time," says Peggy Allman, the Franklin County registrar.
There also will be pamphlets available explaining what's what. If you're looking for more information, a rundown on the amendments was published in Sunday's Roanoke Times, in the Horizon section, with a more detailed account appearing Wednesday, Oct.23.
6. Know your Warners.
Despite millions of dollars' worth of advertising by both candidates, some voters remain confused by the two Senate candidates with the same last name.
In dealing with the absentee voters who have come by the registrar's office, "that's been a big concern," St.John says. She has encountered what she considers an unusually high number of voters - maybe 10 so far - who have marked their absentee ballots and then exclaimed, "Oh gosh, I marked the wrong one."
She has been able to replace those ballots. "But once they're in the voting machine and pull the lever, there's nothing we can do," she says.
And Allman, the Franklin registrar, points out that election officials are barred by law from answering even simple questions, such as which candidate is a Democrat and which one is a Republican. "That's not my law," she says. "That's somebody else's law." But it's the law nonetheless.
The bottom line: "They'll need to know before they go," Allman says.
For the record, John is the Republican, Mark is the Democrat.
LENGTH: Long : 102 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICSby CNB